ABC Nightlife 2 June 2006

Posted 5 December 2006

The November Nightlife show looked at Regional broadband and Internet complaints.

The most common complaints we receive are about Internet connections. The Internet can be time consuming and frustrating at the best of times. Even more so when the ISP makes mistakes.

For Australians, the Telcommunications Industry Ombudsman is the organisation responsible for phone and Internet complaints. Each year in their annual report they give a detailed breadown of the complaints they receive. In 2005-6 they received over a hundred thousand complaints about Internet providers.

Of these complaints, nearly a third were about customer service and quarter about billing problems. The fastest growing area of concern was contract disputes. This is consistent with the complaints we hear on the Nightlife.

Because these complaints are so common we have a checklist of how to deal with an Internet dispute. The TIO will not accept your complaint until you have first tried to resolve it with your provider. Most decent providers will try to resolve issues before it gets to that stage.

Another area of complaint for Internet users has been the slow roll out of broadband in the bush. On the last spot, we asked listeners to send comments about their regional broadband issues. Their responses were about the trouble they had getting access.

Because of the distance limitations of ADSL and the scarcity of cable Internet outside the capital cities, there are a number of alternatives that rural users have to consider. Radio, satellite and mobile phone are the three main alternatives. Each have their disadvantages which we will discuss on another web page.

Another big area of concern is cost. Sattelite and radio setup costs are huge unless subsidised by the Federal government. While Telstra's NextG network offers greater coverage, the data costs can be quite excessive.

Streaming costs